Pesticide
by MortiferSB
Summary: Heroes of Earth Bet... RISE.
1. Chapter 1

**June 6th, 2011**

Here Lies William Menard

A True Hero

Rebecca Costa-Brown, also known as Alexandria, stood at the grave, a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"Hey, Hero."

Behind her, David and Walter, Eidolon and Legend, respectively, bowed their heads.

"Wish you were here. You'd be proud of how far we've come."

She closed her eyes, fiddling with the flowers.

"Leviathan hit Brockton Bay last month. Lowest amount of deaths in any Endbringer attack, excluding The Simurgh. We've made progress."

She smiled, then sighed.

"It's been... Hard, since you died. Still a lot of villains, David's losing his power, and the end of the world is in two years. But when things like this happen... It give me hope, that we're making a difference. Doing something."

She moved forward, putting the bouquet at the grave.

"Hero... I'm sorry. For... I'm sorry."

Tears rolled down her face as she moved back, and David stepped forward.

"Hero. Nice to-"

A black streak ran through the air.

**Flesh.**

"What the-"

**William Menard of Earth.**

A small, black ring hung over Hero's grave.

**RISE.**

* * *

"H-Hero?" Stuttered Alexandria.

Eidolon looked at the corpse.

It certainly resembled Hero, if a bit decomposed, but something felt... Off, about it.

Quickly, Eidolon swapped out his powers.

Three new powers. Sensing motives, a power that let him detect movement within a certain distance, and a power that increased his reflexes.

He gave 'Hero' a quick scan with the motive sensing power.

The corpse grinned.

"Alexandria..." Began Eidolon. "I don't thin-"

The corpse lunged at him.

He ducked to the side.

The corpse stopped, and turned back to face them.

"Hero?" Asked Legend. "Wha-"

"That's not Hero." Interrupted Eidolon.

The corpse chuckled.

"Such a shame." It rasped. "You caught on too quickly."

"What are you?" Demanded Alexandria.

"Me? Oh, I'm Hero."

"Liar."

"Oh, who's the liar here, Rebecca? As I recall, you've lied to a lot of people."

"I did what I had to do." Countered the heroine.

"Oh, I'm sure you did. Just like you had t-"

"No more talking." Said Eidolon. "I know what you want to do."

"Oh?"

"You want us all dead." Legend and Alexandria looked at him. "You want to kill everyone, and... You're not the only one, are you?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Legend.

"How many Capes have died, since Scion arrived?" Asked Eidolon. "Becau-"

Movement, behind him. Eidolon leapt down, grabbed the arm, and threw the second corpse over him.

Eidolon didn't have time to identify the second corpse before 'Hero' lunged at him.

Alexandria dashed forward, and pushed him out of the way.

The second corpse rose again, and pulled her off of the first.

This was bad.

"Door!" Called Eidolon.

A portal opened behind him, and he jumped back. Aleandria shook off the corpses and ran for him.

Legend began to run, but a black, semi-transparent wall flickered into existance, just in front of him. He hit it, and stumbled.

Eidolon swore, and rushed back out of the portal to help him.

The second corpse stood over him

**Heart is ready for Harvest.**

The thing punched forward.

"No!"

The corpse stood, holding Legend's heart in it's hand.

Eidolon felt tears in his eyes.

How could this have happened? Legend was one of the most powerful Parahumans on the planet, and now...

**Walter Clarke of Earth.**

...This.

**RISE.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Pesticide**

**Chapter One**

June 6th, 2011

Dragon reviewed the report again.

Three hours ago, the Triumvirate had, in their civilian identities, gone to visit Hero's grave. Shortly after their arrival, the black ring had appeared, and began puppeting Hero's corpse. A second corpse had attacked shortly afterwards, and Legend was killed.

The news had already gone viral. While rumours about the deaths of famous heroes came up often enough for most people to dismiss them as frauds, there were several eye witnesses of the fight, and video evidence was already online.

But the really disturbing thing was what happened afterwards.

Another ring had come, and began controlling Legends corpse. Even worse, the zombie Legend had shown to be capable of using the powers Legend had in life.

It was a devestating moral blow, having one of the most powerful Parahuman abilities turned against them. No-one had any idea where the black rings had come from, or how many there were. Currently, the Protectorate had them rated as an A-class threat, with the potential of reaching S-class, depending on how many there were.

Which was Dragons job.

Dragon's initial attempts to scan the area, to try and see if the rings gave off any sort of energy signature that could be traced, was met with failure. The rings, in addition to being zombie-making devices, seemed to be able to match her technology. A terrifying thought, given how much effort went into it.

Her attempts to get a scanner closer to the corpses resulted in the corpses attacking before they got close enough, so Dragon put them aside, and had her drones evacuate the area.

Heroes and villains of the city gathered to fight of the corpses, to buy time. More were arriving every second.

Hopefully, it would be enough.

* * *

Cauldron was in mourning.

Alexandria and Number Man were sitting at a table, opposite each other. Neither were moving.

Doctor Mother was standing behind them. Despite her attempts of looking stoic, tears were running down her face.

Eidolon sat on a chair, head resting in his hands.

"Damn it." He muttered. "Damn it."

They spent five minutes like this, before Contessa walked in.

Everyone turned and looked at her. She closed her eyes, and stood at the door.

Slowly, Eidolon stood up. Then, he walked over, and punched Contessa in the face.

Contessa stumbled, and the other members of Cauldron began rushing over.

"Eidolon, what are you doing?!" Asked Alexandria.

Eidolon just stared at Contessa.

"Why?" He asked.

Alexandria, Number Man and Doctor Mother stopped, and looked at him.

"Why?!" He repeated, snarling. "You had the plan, you had the Path, so why did he die?!"

Contessa stood, but said nothing.

"Well!" Demanded Eidolon. "Answer me!"

"I-I can't." Choked out Contessa. "The Path keeps changing. I can't see who they'll bring back. I don't know what to do."

"Then what use are you?" Snarled Eidolon.

Contessa didn't answer.

Eidolon turned away from her.

"There's more, you know." He said. "I got a power that lets me read their intent. There's enough to bring back an army of those, and they can bring back any dead. Do something useful, and try figure out where they are."

"Dragon's doing that." Said Contessa. "I won't be able to find them before her. I can't do anything."

"Fine then." Said the hero. "I'll go get back to the fight, and do something. You can just sit back and twiddle your thumbs, if that's all you can do."

Eidolon began walking. "Door."

The portal opened, and the Cape stepped through.

* * *

Ben Oscar, also known as Quick Draw, wasn't a well known hero.

His powers weren't very impressive. A danger sense, that let him react to things up to a second before they happen. PR had given him a cowboy image, which, while popular with children, wasn't very memorable.

He lived in a small town that no-one cared about, within driving distance of New York. He was frequently being overshadowed by more powerful heroes that operated nearby, such as Legend himself.

But none of that mattered now, because Legend was dead, and what appeared to be the beginning of a zombie apocalypse was happening in the middle of New York.

Ben stood atop of a building, surrounded by other Parahumans, watching the battle.

The Hero-zombie was wielding black constructs that resembled the equipment he used in life. Multiple Brutes attempted to get close to him, but their attempts were hindered by the Legend-zombie hovering above, firing lasers at them.

A third zombie stoof nearby, watching.

Normal law enforcements were evacuating civilians in the distance. The job of the heroes was to keep the zombies occupied until they're gone.

Quick Draw looked at the heroes around them. Most of them were ranged fighters, with powers that could be used at a distance. A few had Tinker Weapons. The remainder were Capes capable of creating shields of some sort, to prevent any counter attack, or Thinkers, to give them warning.

"Ready?" Asked the man who had organised them. Quick Draw, and the heroes around him, nodded.

"Take aim."

Quick Draw drew his two Tinker-built revolvers. Since the zombies were already dead, had a powerful healing factor, and were willing to kill people, he had been given the most powerful weapon he was allowed. Each of the guns were capable of hurting Parahumns with ratings up to Brute 5. Lining up the sights, he aimed them at Legend.

"Fire!"

Jets of flame and lightning struck Legend, followed by lasers, bullets and many other objects.

The zombies healing factor kicked in, healing the many holes and lost limbs, but the constant fire began to overwhelm it.

Dropping from his flight, Legend fell to his knees. It only bought him a moments rest, as the Parahumans adjusted their aim.

Quick Draw smiled. They were doing it.

Then the third zombie intervened.

Jumping in front of the barrage, the corpse shielded Legend, allowing him to heal.

Ben cursed.

"Keep firing!" Called the leader. Quick Draw reloaded his weapons, and did just that.

Gasping, the zombie's regeneration failed, and the corpse was destroyed, leaving only a black ring behind.

Quick Draw smirked. One down.

Then the laser hit him.

The Legend-zombie had finished healing, and was returning fire to the ranged Capes.

Quick Draw stared at where his legs used to be.

Why hadn't his powers warned him? Why hadn't any of the Thinkers reacted?

The last thing that Ben Oscar ever saw was a black ring.

* * *

Fifteen dead.

Legend's blasts had killed fifteen of the ranged fighters involved in the destruction of the first ring bearer.

Even worse, the ring had immediately popped off and taken a host amoung the dead in the crowd, making it all for nothing.

The zombified hero was one that Dragon didn't immediately recognise- A Tinker, most likely, judging by the gear- And it immediately tried to rip apart the nearest living Parahuman.

Another Parhuman- A Brute/Mover- rushed in to distract it, while the other, non-Brute Parahuman's in the area ran away.

Hero took a moment to fire one of his weapons, destroying on of Dragon's scanning drones. Legend fired a beam at another. Chaos ensured.

And then things got worse.

Several glowing black lines struck across the sky, like dark llightning. Several more rings appeared, each above a corpse.

**Nicole Brennan of Earth.**

**RISE.**

**Chuck Green of Earth.**

**RISE.**

**Justin Case of Earth.**

**RISE.**

Three of the corpses rose, and began attacking. More black streaks flashed, and more rings appeared.

Dragon's sensors were silent, failing to detect the rings.

But even the stealth technology that her scanners couldn't touch was no match for basic Trigonometry.

As more rings came tumbling down, Dragon focused on calculating their point of origin.

...Well, that's problematic.

The source of the rings was out in the void of space, somewhere beyond view. They couldn't get to them, couldn't stop them coming, couldn't even see how many there were...

They coulldn't do anything but wait for them to come and kill them.

This was like the Endbringers all over again.


End file.
